Some don't bother with a mash-out when batch sparging, but if you can handle the extra water it is a really good idea. First, sugars dissolve more readily in the warmer water, so you will extract a bit more from your mash and potentially increase your efficiency a few points. Second, the warmer water thins the mash and makes for easier recirculation and lautering.

I posted a recent thread on two vs. one batch sparge. Doesn't really matter much. One is easier, so that is what I shoot for.

For batch sparging, tannin extraction isn't really a concern unless you are using a lot of sparge water. It is much harder for batch spargers to reach the high pH in the mash the fly spargers do.

i always do two batch sparges, because i'm using a 5 gallon cooler, and have to do two sparges to reach 6gallons for boil. i let the first sparge sit for ten minutes, varlouf, then drain into the kettle, then the second sparge, i just pour it in, stir, and immedieatly let it out into the kettle. works fine for every brew.

brian

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by shecky

I love you. No, seriously, I think I have a man-crush on you. Smooches. :p

First, you don't need to let a batch sparge sit at all. Pour it in, stir it for 2 minutes, vorlauf and drain. That's my method anyway and I'm hitting 80-86% efficiency. I tried it just for the heck of it one batch and efficiency was not affected at all.

From my empirical perspective, a mash out plus two sparges yields the highest efficiency. Here are some combinations I've tried and recorded:

On the double sparge, I take it other than recirculating the vorlauf for clarification, you sparge with fresh sparge water the 2nd sparge?

When double sparging, does each sparge have less water than you would use if you were only doing 1 sparge? Is it half of what you would use for single sparge?

Do you build in the extra, 2nd sparge water volume gain for your total boil volume, and reduce a little water in the mash to account for this 2nd sparge and hit your boil volume target?

Thanks for any help on these basic questions. I'm gearing up for all-grain in the very near future and I liked your "real-world" data above.

__________________
"I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------Primary: empty like Bush's head.
Secondary: also empty
Conditioning: Eurotrash ale
Drinking: Simi Cider; Home Rule Hefe
Coming Attractions: DC High Property Tax Bitter; Old Throbbinghead

Assume 12lbs grain, 3.5 gallons infusion (the rate would be like 1.16 qt/lb). I like to round off my infusions to the .25 gallon marks as long as it's between 1-1.3 qts/lb.

Beertools tells me after the mash, I have 2.13gallons first runnings available. I want 7.75 gallons preboil. 7.75 - 2.13 = 5.62 gallons that I have to infuse between mash out and two sparge rounds. It would be nice to have all 3 separations about equal, but I'm more concerned with reaching a high mash out temp. I play around with the software to see how little boiling water I can use to mash out while getting the temp up in the high 160F area.

In this case, 1.25g of 212F mash out will get me up to 167F. Good enough.

First runnings will be 3.38 gallons. Don't forget to vorlauf the first 2 qts or so.